I recently got an email from McKensie, a reader friend who needs some bridal shower ideas. I have a few, but here is your opportunity to share your ideas also!

Here is what she said:

Hi-

I just recently found your blog and I will be a follower! 🙂 I am contacting you today to ask you about bridal showers. My sister is getting married in February and we are looking for ideas. Her colors will be teal, purple, salmon and black. We would like to use those in some way if possible. If you would point me in the right direction on where to start we would really appreciate it. We dont really want to play games, we want more of an open house with yummy food, cute decorations, and great conversations! Can you help us a little????

Thanks a bunch!

McKensie

Well McKensie, I’m happy to help!

I have more experience in throwing baby showers than with bridal showers, but hey…a shower is a shower…right?! 🙂

Here are a few ideas I have:

INVITATIONS

First of all, I always recommend making custom invitations. That way you can have the exact colors and style you want.

Click HERE for my tutorial on how to make your own digital invites for free.

Google “shower invitation” and go to images to get TONS of ideas for cute invitations. If you are anything like me, seeing an example really helps!

Etsy is another good resource for unique, custom invites that you don’t have to do yourself! My good friends over at Plum Street Prints have amazing designs and they will make anything you want. They could totally design your invitations for a great deal!

I found this company on Pinterest that has lots of free templates you can use.

To keep costs down, send the invitation out digitally via email or facebook. You may have to mail a few to people who aren’t on facebook, but it will save you a ton of money on stamps, envelopes, and printing.

You can take advantage of free print offers from sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly, and print your invites as 4×6 or 5×7 pictures. Glue them to cute cardstock or scrapbook paper and you have custom invites for FREE! You can see these free print offers on our coupon page.

To keep costs even lower, print the invite on cute paper (you can buy cute printer paper, or just use scrapbook paper), keep it simple, and simply dress it up with a bit of ribbon, glitter, or other embellishments. Remember to use coupons at the craft stores!!! Joanne Fabrics takes competitors’ coupons so print out Hancock, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Joanne’s coupons from our coupons & deals page and take them all!

Be sure to send your invitations out at least 4 weeks in advance, and send a reminder email 1 week in advance.

Be sure to ask for an RSVP so you can have a count for food and party favors. I like to put text, call, and email as RSVP options.

DECORATIONS

Personally, this is my favorite part!

One thing I’ve learned is that you DON’T have to pay a lot to have amazing decor. Make most of it yourself, and stick with the stuff that can be reused!

It sounds like you already have a color theme of teal, purple, salmon, and black. Those might be challenging to work with, so just remember to always GET CREATIVE! Here are some decor ideas that I thought were cute:

I like that they use real napkins, silverware, and plates for this party in this picture. I thought this was a cute way to lay out napkins and silverware. I also like how simple and clean the table looks. You don’t need much!

At one of the showers I did, a friend did the food. She did lots of different kinds of dips and it was delish! You don’t necessarily have to serve a full meal, depending on what time your shower is at.

For the other shower I did lots of kinds of salads. Allrecipes.com is my go-to!…

You mentioned you don’t want to do games, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a fun activity or two! Just have them lying around, or in a basket for people to grab when they come in. Having a simple activity or two can give people “something to do”…especially if they don’t know many people at the shower.

One idea I loved was to make your own scratch cards. You could have one big winner, or multiple small winners. Either way, it’s memorable, fun, and creative!

Another activity you could do is to have question cards that people can answer. At the end you can have a prize for whoever guesses the most correctly. It’s a fun conversation starter, and helps the guests get to know the bride/groom better!

Comments

My sisters threw my bridal shower, and my favorite part was that they video typed an “interview” of my fiancé. They asked him questions and stories about our relationship and our families. They then edited it and made me try and guess what he would say. It was a fun, silly game, but I loved it. Also, another way for easy thank you notes, pass around blank envelopes that go to the thank you cards and have the girls put their address on it for you. SO much easier than hunting now addresses later. Good luck and happy wedding!

Something that we did recently at a shower where we didn't want games, but still wanted people to have fun was to set up a "photo booth". We picked an out of the way corner and hung wrapping paper down the wall as a backdrop. Set up a camera on a tripod and put out silly costume additions- feather boas; hats; big sunglasses; tiaras and wands etc. People went and "played" at the photobooth when they felt like it and I went by occassionally and switched memory cards – saving and printing the pictures. The printed pictures gave everyone a memory to take home with them and we had the saved pictures to use to create a scrapbook for my sister later.

Trackbacks

[…] 10. Fruit decorations. Great idea to serve fruit at any party! Coat the interior of the cone in chocolate of your choice to prevent it from going soggy. Plus who can say no to chocolate!!! Someone even suggested rolling the ends in nuts or sprinkles. Source […]

[…] 5. I’m always a fan of having a healthy food option at a party, but it’s tricky to know how to serve fruit. Use waffle cones as serving containers for a pretty presentation and a tasty cup! FunCheapOrFree […]

Hi, I'm Jordan

AKA, the Fun Cheap or Free Queen. As a Family Finance and Frugal Living expert, my mission is to redefine frugal and teach you to live an ABUNDANT life...on any budget. It's not only possible, it's FUN. Want proof? Read my story and see... [read more]